Ghosts: An Existential Redux

2022 | Found photos, contemporary photos, mp4 videos

GHOSTS IS A meditation on the transitory nature of our lives, particularly in a time when the coronavirus has taken so many. These images were shared with me by Dr. Rowling Dord, with the request that I use them to create some sort of tribute. Their negatives were found in the attic of an old Sullivan County house, and the people pictured are long dead, including one little boy who died at age six. But they pose for the camera, happy in the moment, enjoying life and each other. I was deeply impressed not only by how fleeting those captured instances were, but also by how nearly everything of consequence to those people is now gone, almost as though it never existed.  Working with Dr. Dord in the summer of 2021, I decided I would bring the people briefly back to life. I had access to the property where the pictures were taken, and I set up my camera in the same spots as the original photographers. Then, through animation, I returned  the people to their moments before the camera just as if they had never passed. The changes are quite striking as the images transition from mid-20th century to 2021, but the ghosts remain. Dr. Dord introduces this video, explaining its genesis, and then presents the images and their transformations.